TWs: Playful colliding, excessive worrying/panic, brief arguing/yelling. Stay safe :)
8 HOURS
...
"Mr. Spherical, I know you want to help and all, but what exactly are we going to do?" Houston asked, "I can't ask the world powers to give us more resources."
"I know, Captain, and I'm not asking you to do that." The cape-clad hero turned to face the other, "But you can't expect me to sit around and do nothing when our planet- our home- could be destroyed at any moment!"
Mr. Spherical brought a hand up to his face, breathing in before letting it out slowly. He took off his sunglasses, his other hand clutching a corner of his cape as he brought the fabric up to wipe the lens.
"They're still here, right?" He asked, placing his sunglasses in one swift motion, "I'm going to have to talk to them."
...
"You want us to do what!?" China asked incredulously.
"Are you for real?" Russia's eyes were wide as his hands clenched into tight fists.
"Can't we just go somewhere else?" America crossed his arms.
"No one is leaving the planet!" Mr. Spherical placed his hand atop the table, "It's either Earth is blown up into a thousand pieces while we sit around doing nothing, or we actually do something about it and hopefully... have a chance to make it out alive."
The room was silent as they took in the superhero's words.
"Hope?" China scoffed, almost as if the other made a bad joke, "Hope, Mr. Spherical, will get us nowhere. We'll be dead before we have any chance to know what hit us!"
"He's right." Russia agreed, "Besides, we don't even know the source of the problem! How are we supposed to 'fix' it?"
"For once, I'm agreeing with the communists." America nodded, "All we know is that there are a bunch of unknown Stars that entered the solar system, and one of them has gotten more than a few thousand citizens injured in the past few hours."
"Well, what if there was a way to get more information?" Mr. Spherical perked an eyebrow as he leaned forward.
"How would you go about doing that?" Russia asked, "Unless you went up into space yourself."
Mr. Spherical smirked.
"Wait." China frowned, "You're not going up into space, right?"
The superhero said nothing.
"Right!?" China and Russia sat up in their seats.
America perked up, "Ooh, that's a great idea! You know, I bet you can help me find some space oil- the other guy in space let me down."
China collapsed into his seat while Russia face-palmed, exasperated sighs exiting both of them.
"Wait- something's missing." America lowered his sunglasses, taking in the room, "Where's Canada?"
The room fell into silence again.
"Eh, I bet he's fine." America shrugged, pushing his sunglasses up as he leaned back into his chair.
« × »
7 HOURS
...
Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo!
AstroDude perked up at the alarm blaring on the control panel.
"Agh- what's happening, Computer!?"
"Something is heading towards the ship at full speed." The AI responded.
"What!?" The astronaut yelped.
The dwarf planet on the outside seemed to respond to the noise the ship was making, his eyes wide and alert as he looked around.
In the midst of the asteroids sprung another body that clumsily zipped past the spaceship before colliding with Ceres.
"AHAhahahahah!" Laughter was heard as the body separated from the surprised dwarf planet, "I-I got... you!"
Ceres took a moment to register what had happened before his frown turned into a wide grin, a cackle emitting from his body as he laughed with the other.
AstroDude took in the scene, his eyes wide and his mind racing with a million questions; who was that?
"Four Vesta," AstroDude jumped upon hearing the computer speak, "The second most massive body in the asteroid belt. NASA's Dawn spacecraft circled Vesta on July 16th, 2011, until September 15th, 2012, when it departed and started making its journey to dwarf planet Ceres."
"Huh." Was the only thing that escaped the astronaut's mouth.
"The giant asteroid is almost spherical, and so is nearly classified as a dwarf planet. Unlike most known asteroids, Vesta has separated into crust, mantle, and core, much like the Earth. Understanding why this was so was one of the Dawn's missions. The answer turned out to be that Vesta formed early, within one to two million years of the birth of the solar system. Short-lived radioactive material that was incorporated into bodies that formed during this epoch heated them to the point where- in cases like Vesta- the objects melted, allowing the denser materials to sink to the asteroid's core and the lower density materials to rise."
"Wow, that's... really cool." AstroDude's eyes widened at the diagram on the hovering screen that portrayed the asteroid. Then his amazement turned into puzzlement, frowning as he looked out the window again, "But, wait- I thought only planets and moons were... animate. How is Vesta...?"
"Perhaps it's because it has a purpose?" The AI said, "Vesta accounts for almost nine percent of the total mass of all asteroids, and it has the components of a planet. The only thing that sets it apart from the planets is that it's not exactly spherical. Vesta is also believed to have lost about one percent of its mass less than a billion years ago."
"So, the massive collision that happened is responsible for Vesta not becoming a dwarf planet?" AstroDude inquired.
"It's possible, but of course, this is only a theory."
"So, are there more asteroids who can move around and talk?"
"It's possible." The computer repeated before changing its screen to show a photo of the asteroid belt, "The only asteroids that could be animate are Two Pallas, Sixteen Psyche, One-Zero-One-Nine-Five-Five Bennu, and Four-Three-Three Eros."
"Isn't Bennu that one asteroid that flies past the Earth every six or so years?" AstroDude commented.
"Yes, although, it has a zero-point-five percent chance of crashing into Earth in the year twenty-one eighty-two."
"Well, I'll be dead by then, so..." AstroDude shrugged.
"True, you humans are feeble in comparison to AI."
AstroDude was about to remark, then sighed when he realized it was right, "Yeah, that's true..."
« × »
6 HOURS 30 MINUTES
...
"Where's Neptune?" Proteus asked Triton.
"I, uh- don't know." Triton admitted, "He should've been back right about now."
"Is Neptune going to be okay?" Galatea's voice was soft as she barely spoke above a whisper.
"I'm sure he's going to be just fine." Triton tried to calm the moon's nerves, "He's Neptune! He always bounces back."
Larissa smiled, "Yeah! Neptune's the best!"
The irregular moons nodded, spouting out their own words of agreement.
Triton sighed as he watched them go into tangents about the stories Neptune would tell them. He cast his eyes to the Kuiper belt, his eyebrows knitted in worry for his planet.
He would never admit it, but he was scared; scared about the outcome of this battle, scared when he lost sight of not one, but two, of the irregular moons, scared about where his planet always disappears to and scared about if his planet was safe or not. He knew Neptune never played it safe, he was always a 'do things without thinking' kind of planet, and it got him into trouble countless times before.
So, of course, Triton was scared, but where did fear get him? Nowhere. He wasn't allowed to feel fear- he wasn't allowed to feel anything, not after he tried so hard to get away from it all; to be free from it all. Feelings never got him anywhere.
So, why was he scared?
"Hahahah! You can't get me Nereid!" Larissa exclaimed as she flew away from the other.
"I sure can try, Larissa!" Nereid yelled.
Triton turned to look at the moons- the irregular, small moons of Neptune. They didn't seem like much from an outsider's perspective, and they weren't. After all, they had the minds and likeness of Earthling children.
Triton removed his sunglasses, his eyes darting between the thirteen moons.
Why was he scared...?
Because he cared; he cared about them so, so much.
« × »
6 HOURS
...
"Am I getting warmer?" Neptune asked.
"No, no- the other way." Messier voiced.
"Which way?"
"Right."
"Your right or my right?"
A sigh was heard, "They're the same right, Neptune."
"Ooh, right." Neptune followed the Star's directions, "Now?"
"Wait... take three steps forward and go left."
"Alright..." Neptune moved the asteroids out of his way as he did as he was told. In the distance, he saw a faint light, "Is that it?"
"Only one way to find out."
The blue Celestial flew a few paces, his eyes squinting once he saw a bright object covered underneath rocks and debris.
"Be careful, Neptune. Once you grab it, X will-"
Neptune barely paid any attention to what Messier was saying, his body moving forward.
"Neptune, wait-!"
He crushed the asteroids containing the NovaStar, quickly grabbing the celestial item.
"Neptune! What have you done!? Now that you touched it, X will soon realize it was taken!" Messier yelled, his voice filled with rising panic.
"That's what I'm hoping for," Neptune spoke, a frown set on his face as he peered down at the NovaStar, the light reflecting in his stormy gaze.
« NOTE »
Man, I did not mean to rant about an asteroid in this chapter lmao (I got it all from NASA's website)
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